SCTLD Spreads to Little Cayman

Marine researchers have discovered the first cases of stony coral tissue loss disease in Little Cayman's waters, after finding lesions on corals on a mile-long stretch of reef. Although SCTLD has decimated corals around Grand Cayman, the sister islands of Little Cayman and Cayman Brac had so far escaped the scourge.

The Cayman Compass reported in September that coral lesions had been spotted at Black Hole and Windsock Reef dive sites on Little Cayman's southwest coastline. Researchers have determined it spreads at about one mile a month, meaning the infection likely became established in Little Cayman in July this year. So far, Cayman Brac is unaffected. SCTLD emerged in Florida in 2014 and has rapidly spread south throughout the Caribbean, infecting more than 30 species of stony corals, including brain corals and pillar corals.